Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[MaryJanet]

Awww. Thank you! Yes the grass seed video is quite something. I love how she twists off the bit she wants and it sends her wattles flying everywhere!

Her ear lobes are particularly outstanding in that video, but my favourite video is the one in which she's taking huge bites of water

 

[micstrachan]

ACV creates an environment that can kill the good bacteria you are trying to introduce. Think about it, vinegar is an acid with a PH of 2-3. You are watering it down but part of how it works in chickens is to lower the PH in the craw so that harmful organisms can't survive. Well if the harmful ones can't survive, neither can the beneficial ones.

I get that. But I use natural, unfiltered ACV with the “mother” in it, which is often used to kickstart fermentation. I need to look into this more. I would use it super diluted, so the acidity would also be diluted. Definitely interesting to think about. I am one who more often uses probiotics (in the form of buttermilk, kefir, yogurt or fermented feed) and very rarely ACV, despite all the hype. But I really need to wrap my brain around this. I won’t remember it unless it makes sense to me.

 

[micstrachan]

Did I miss something? Is Flash sick? I don't remember you saying that.

Nope. Just starving herself in her first molt. Starvation phase may be over already if I can pull her aside for private feedings. Fingers crossed!

 

[AfiafiAfi]

Oh no!
How come you didn’t notice?
Are there any farms nearby or pet stores or even grocery stores where you could get something to last them two days? Wouldn’t be perfect food of course but better than nothing.
And make sure in future to always note when you need to reorder so you don’t run out again.

I’m trying to do some readers choice to find what to give them for emergency situations thanks anyway

 

[micstrachan]

I like to stick to chicken-related posts, but can’t help myself… tomato season is not quite over! Here we have Copia, Big Rainbow, Green Zebra, Sun Gold and Beauty Lottringa.

 

[BY Bob]

Oh dear, poor baby. When Hattie was standing on her I felt so bad for her.
Is she trying to get under/past Hattie for the prime end position, Bob? Didn’t she have that end as her own for a while a fair time ago?

She did have the spot on the other side of Hattie for a long time. She is just protecting her head. She does not lift up to dislodge Hattie like Phyllis used to do. She does not peck Hattie's feet either.

 

[micstrachan]

Omg no!pls somebody help! I just duscovered I’m out of feed!the farmer who was supposed to supplie me still didn’t.It’s going to take 2 days!I have no feed!my quails are literally gonna starve without food for 2 days since there’s no good feed store!what should I do!

Do you have eggs on hand? How about brown rice? Any fish? What veggies? I think they could get by on a mix of healthful foods you have on hand. Leave the salt out when cooking.

 

[Scrambles83]

She did have the spot on the other side of Hattie for a long time. She is just protecting her head. She does not lift up to dislodge Hattie like Phyllis used to do. She does not peck Hattie's feet either.

I don’t envy you with the roosting issues, that’s for sure.
Now with only 2 they go up and snuggle in together on the same roost usually.
The nights when I check and they happen to be on different roosts to one another I wonder what words have been exchanged

 

[micstrachan]

The Roosting Tribulations of Phyllis

I recorded Roosting time the other night with the new camera. I took week over 30 minutes of video and Phyllis was already roosted when I started. I have condensed it down into just over 15 minutes in 2 video clips.

I have said before that roosting time with my tribe is not for the faint of heart. The tribe is vicious to each other.

SPECIAL WARNING: All of you Hattie fans may not want to watch because of how she treats Phyllis.

Also, every night this week Phyllis has been forced to roost in the big run. This bullying has really amped up since I let her set her nest. In every way it seems that was a mistake on my part. All of this is a contributing factor to the new coop and little ones. I do think her Roosting in the run will lead her to be more accepting of Roosting in the new coop when the time comes.

Video 1

We start with Phyllis on the high roost. Lilly will jump up to it and Phyllis will be forced to jump down. Shemoves to the main bar and at around the 1 minute mark, Hattie forces her off and she leaves the coop.

Around 2:48 Phyllis re-enters the coop, gets up on the main bar and Hattie goes after her again. Phyllis manages to stay on the main Roland get away from Hattie for a moment.

At 3:40 Phyllis seems to inexplicably move towards Hattie again an another round of punishment occurs. She quickly moves away.

Around the 5 min mark Phyllis seems to be looking at the small roost which I added for her but she never tries to use it.

Video 2

This video is longer as the action is almost non stop for 10 minutes.

We start off with Aurora on the roost forcing Phyllis to head towards Hattie and then off of the roost. Aurora then jumps down and forces her out of the coop. Sansa is them forced off the high roost and Aurora runs her out as well.

At the 2:40 mark Phyllis scoots past Aurora an re-enters coop and gets up on the the roost as far as possible from Hattie.

Around 3:37 Aurora surprise attacks Phyllis on the roost but Phyllis is able to run away and remain on the roost.

Around the 5 min mark, Sansa enters the coop, jumps on the roost, and forces Phyllis off. At 5:35 Phyllis jumps up by Hattie and pays for it. After the beating, everything actually looks settled. But at 8:34 Phyllis jumps down! Why? Did Hattie say something to her?

At 9:27 Phyllis comes in again and jumps on the roost. At 9:45 Aurora goes after her again and she flees. Phyllis would run and jump up by Hattie again. Hattie would send her to the other end of the roost where Sansa awaited.

The video ends here, bad edit on my part, but Sansa would chase her off the roost and Phyllis wouldn't return. She would roost in the run.

Poor Phyllis. Bob, you know where the two little roosts are? What about putting a roost along the full length of the coop there?

 

[micstrachan]

I meant to post the other day but we had a four-egg day! That means River is laying! I was a bit worried this morning when she meandered out and wasn’t interested in the layer feed, but she chowed down on people food.

Oh, and Tegan’s trying to go broody.

Woohoo! Excellent on the four egg day!